Machine Shop: Hype Machine Team Blog

This week, we are starting to work with not one but two of our favorite teams on the Internet!  In addition to Spotify, we are launching a beta of our partnership with VHX.tv, a beautiful way for artists and filmmakers to distribute their work.  Jamie, Casey & the rest of the team have been crafting amazing video experiences for years, so we are excited to play with their tech in the world of music and blogs.

While listening to our popular page, and watching our favorite video sites, we’ve wondered: what are the most interesting videos on the music blogs we monitor?

So we thought to find out, and we made HMTV: a constantly evolving chart of the most popular videos on music blogs, all wrapped in a slick VHX.tv player, and complete with a lights-out mode.  Have a look!

This is just a first revision of this experience, much more is to come.

As VHX.tv begins to distribute more video by musicians, we are thrilled to support them in developing this new revenue stream for creators.

We’ve been Spotify fans since 2008. There was just one office in a busy part of Stockholm filled with crafty developers and dreamers, probably the longest private beta we’ve ever seen, and much-coveted beta invites. It has been fun watching the product turn from daring (“Why would you have an app stream all your music, instead of a website, in 2006?”) to world-changing (“Oh, how can you not?”)

We’ve also been carefully watching the awesome apps that have been popping up in the Spotify App Finder in the past few months. Pretty much all of our favorite web projects and magazines now have an app! We noticed, too, that there hasn’t been a way for music blogs to be visible in this new world of subscription music.

That’s why we are really excited to release the first version of Hype Machine in the Spotify App Store. It’s a fresh way to be introduced to music blogs, all within Spotify, and drawing upon the impressive catalog they have assembled over the years. You can find blogs by genre or by name, and every few days we feature a blog out of the 800+ we monitor to give them additional spotlight.

We figured to start with the first two music blogs that were ever indexed by the Hype Machine back in 2005: Music for Robots (blog id: 1) and Fluxblog (blog id: 2). Thanks, Matthew, Mark & David!

Stay tuned for more featured blogs every few days, and more updates to the app. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

We’re looking for ambassadors to share the Hype Machine with their college campus and city. Interested? Apply here.